Thursday, June 2, 2011

Everything is taken into consideration -- offense, defense, pitching, clutchness, baserunning, consistency, awareness, intelligence. My personal evaluation and opinions. Stats used only when I need to break a tie in my mind. No BABIP analysis, focus on Ultimate Zone Ratings, or anything like that.

I'm looking back pretty much at the month of May. Any player that stepped on the field in a Rockies uniform in that dreadful month will be ranked somewhere... even the players who are no longer in the Rockies organization or currently injured.

Of course I don't really believe a simple change on the calendar makes a baseball team better. And it's only one little game out of 162, but damn does this feel good for those 25 players in uniform, the coaches, and the fans. It really was a breath of fresh air after five weeks of inhaling polluted air and horse****.

What can you say about Ubaldo Jimenez? He had everything working from pitch 1 to pitch 106. Which by the way is a really, really efficient number for a complete game shutout. That's what happens for you when you walk ZERO.

No walks!

If I had to make a report card.

Velocity: 93-96ish. B+. (Grading on an Ubaldo curve)

Command: A+

Mechanics: A

Movement: A

Efficiency: A+

Results: A+++

As I tweeted afterwards, I was more nervous in this 9th inning than I was in his no-hitter. Seriously. That performance last season was special. Maybe once in a career for him. Maybe once in a lifetime for Rockies fans. Trust me, I was nervous then. But for all the problems Ubaldo has gone through this season, I wanted this one for him even more.

He needed this badly. I wanted this for him, because I know he needed it that bad and I know his teammates and other fans wanted it that bad for him. Several fist pumps in the air when he set Matt Kemp down with this 7th and final strikeout.

But like I said at the top, it's one game. Where he goes from here who knows, but it's nice to finally have some genuine optimism and positive energy heading to his next start in San Diego.

Tip your cap to Bob Apodaca as well. He's stuck by Ubaldo the whole way through and very likely played a role in tonight's performance.

-- Baby steps forward for the offense in the early going. More of the same later. But overall if was nice to see them move runners 90 feet, and especially nice to see them cash in two runners from third with sacrifice flies. The offense may not be the juggernaut we figured it could be, but they can still be effective if they produce (hits or productive outs) in those situations.